IN-DEPTH FEATURESHaRav Shlomo Wolbe, zt"l, at the end of the Sheloshim, 17
Iyar

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

On the Sheloshim of the Mashgiach, we present this
selection of the thoughts of the Mashgiach himself: the last
shmuess he gave in Yeshivas Giv'at Shaul, an interview
he gave to Yated Ne'eman almost exactly five years
ago, some short thoughts that he expressed on various
occasions, and finally a short but powerful and important
piece about what the world can become chas vesholom if
someone becomes estranged from the truth of Hashem and
Torah.

Change and Development in a Ben Yeshiva's Life —
HaRav Wolbe's Last Shmuess

HaRav Wolbe delivered this last shmuess to the
bnei hayeshiva in Yeshivas Giv'at Shaul on Shabbos
kodesh parshas Vayikra, approximately thirty days before
his petiroh.

The subtitle he gave to his magnum opus, the two
volume Alei Shur — Guidance for the Contemporary
Ben Yeshiva — was also the thrust of his life's
work. It thus seems amply justified to read this
shmuess as a parting message of sorts to all young
bnei Torah, searching for the firm, straight path that
will lead them ever upward.

*

A special process is at work within Klal Yisroel that
produces gedolei Yisroel in every generation. A
youngster enters yeshiva to learn, knowing nothing. What
greets him there?

He sees those who are greater than he, who have already
attained some level of [proficiency in] Torah and he comes to
the realization that there is something greater, something
different from the type of life to which he has hitherto been
accustomed. The desire to become closely acquainted with that
special life that he discovers upon entering yeshiva, awakens
within him.

Our youngster begins learning. He toils and probes and
attains the traits through which Torah is acquired. He gains
profound understanding of Torah and, in time, becomes an
acknowledged scholar, something like the great talmidei
chachomim who can formulate halachic rulings and derive
halochoh through their learning process.

He also adopts fine character traits. He acquires a Torah
mindset and a new intelligence is discernible in all his
affairs. Sometimes, he will develop the ability to guide the
community in the entire range of new situations that arise to
face Klal Yisroel, including those that stem from
their dealings with the gentile nations.

By the time our youngster matures, he has discovered an
entirely new type of life. He feels completely removed from
his earlier, youthful life in all the above respects and at
the same time he also sees within himself the possibility of
drawing close to the Ribono Shel Olom. And he indeed
draws ever closer. And again, the youngsters who arrive after
him discern a more elevated type of life about him and they
too, set out on the same journey.

So it has always been in Klal Yisroel. In every
generation there have been gedolei Yisroel, men of
Torah authority of exceptionally sublime character and of
tremendous wisdom in leading Klal Yisroel, who are
close to Hashem yisborach.

The root of all these qualities lies in the heart. Where does
our youngster discover all these resources? From where does
he draw them out? From his own heart. In other words, he
discovers Torah attributes and fine traits, intellect and
intelligence and closeness to Hashem [within himself]. All
these forms of greatness were within him. He can see how new
life starts to flow inside him, through which he himself
becomes renewed and elevated in every respect.

Not everyone attains all these virtues. There are many grades
and levels. It could be that one person shines more in
straight understanding of learning, another in fine character
and a third in cleverness. Nonetheless, each of them
witnesses change in his life to the extent that his heart has
absorbed Torah life.

At the same time, mussar can also open a person's
heart and acquaint him with all those wonderful qualities of
understanding that exist there and with his own unique fine
traits, while arousing within him the desire for closeness to
Hashem.

When, though, does the holy Torah have an effect upon the
heart? Only when the individual seeks purity. Only then will
his heart become refined and elevated; only then will he
enjoy the Divine assistance that Chazal have promised.

All this comes about when it is his ambition to rise higher
and become purer, to leave behind mundane life for the Torah
life that he sees among his superiors. If however, he chas
vesholom seeks defilement, if he absorbs things from
newspapers and from the street in a different way, then even
though he gains something as a result of his learning, he can
never be a ben aliyah.

I bless everyone with attaining the level where his Torah
gives rise to new life within him and with meriting the
Divine assistance that is promised to all who come in search
of purity.

What Would Have Become of Me If I Hadn't Learned Mussar in
Sweden? — An Interview With HaRav Shlomo Wolbe

by Rabbi A. Chefetz

Excerpts from an interview with the mashgiach, HaRav
Shlomo Wolbe. The interview took place just before Shavuos
5760, five years ago, and the mashgiach knew that he
was being interviewed for the readers of Yated Ne'eman.
Several important topics were raised and discussed
briefly.

YN:Mussar prevented the backsliding of
generations and also indirectly fought against the
Enlightenment. Nowadays, when the trials are different,
involving withstanding temptation rather than enlightenment,
is the need for mussar as great as it was? On the
other hand, perhaps it's even more important nowadays?

HaRav Wolbe: (in amazement) Who told you that
mussar only relates to haskalah? Mussar
relates to and is connected to character traits and to
desires — man must be man! Man must be a true ben
Torah — that is mussar's task! Mussar
can be of assistance today as well. It depends on the
education; how it's taught.

YN: Will mussar raise and uplift a person even
if he lacks a teacher who can lead him through its byways? Is
it enough to open up a Mesillas Yeshorim or Chovos
Halevovos?

HaRav Wolbe: Without mashgichim, educators . .
. Mussar needs training! In precisely the same way
that gemora study requires a teacher to teach the
student how to learn a sugya. Certainly, mussar
needs training, guidance and direction.

YN: Then what can we do in practice? Is a person who
did not learn mussar properly, or an avreich
who didn't receive this training in his youth, prevented from
availing himself of mussar's remedy?

HaRav Wolbe: One must seek out a teacher! It requires
guidance!

YN: It is said that the Mashgiach was in Sweden for
many years (during the Second World War). Doesn't that
suggest that if someone has already absorbed mussar
(in yeshiva) he can continue on his own?

HaRav Wolbe: (Raising his voice) Oi ve'avoy! If
I hadn't learned mussar in Sweden who knows what would
have become of me?

In a place where even some of the rabbonim were ruined, in
such a distant place . . . and if I wouldn't have learned
mussar — Hashem yeracheim — what would
have become of me?

YN: Were the trials of yesteryear different from those
of today?

HaRav Wolbe: The trials used to be different.

YN: More difficult?

HaRav Wolbe: Trials are always difficult! They used to
be different from what they are nowadays.

YN: There's a letter that was sent from Kelm to Radin,
from Rav Hirsch Broide to Reb Yeruchom (who was then in
Radin) concerning talmidim whom Reb Yeruchom had sent
to learn in Kelm. "For I have pleasure from the precious
bochurim that you sent. They are learning with
wondrous application and be'ezras Hashem will also
have success in yiras Shomayim. It seems that we can
pin great hopes on the bochur Y. from Warsaw
n'y (i.e. Rav Yechezkel Levenstein zt'l). He
has only been here a short while but has apparently come well
prepared [lit. with great preparation] to succeed (the letter
goes on to discuss other talmidim)."

If one may ask, what did the writer mean with the words "well
prepared"?

HaRav Wolbe: I don't recall the language of that
letter right now but it might mean that when he came to Kelm
they saw that he was already prepared to absorb
mussar. He, zt'l, was a great servant [of
Hashem]. Already when he was in Radin, he was with the
Chofetz Chaim; he attached himself to him and absorbed from
him as well. As is known, Reb Yechezkel was a tzaddik
whose righteousness supported the world. When he arrived in
Kelm he was already equipped with the necessary tools for
absorbing the lessons that Kelm imparted. That's clear.

YN:Ho'odom Biyekor (a book written by HaRav
Wolbe about Rav Yeruchom zt'l) states that the first
shmuess that Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, who was a
bochur at the time, heard from Reb Yeruchom penetrated
deep into his soul and from that moment on he began working
on emunoh. He heard a shmuess from Reb Yeruchom
in Radin, in other words, Reb Yeruchom was his rebbe.
Yet the shmuessen of one differ from those of the
other . . .

YN: We have heard it said that were Reb Yechezkel to
return to life and speak to us, saying to us the things that
he said in his lifetime, nobody would come to listen . . .
Were his shmuessen indeed only relevant to a more
elevated generation?

HaRav Wolbe: (in amazement) Not relevant to our
generation?!

YN: Perhaps so, because of our generation's weakness .
. .

HaRav Wolbe: In that case, he would indeed speak
differently; he would say what had to be said to our
generation!

YN: In Mir, it is known that shiurim on
Chumash were given for talmidim from Europe and
America. We have heard Rav Yosef Liss quoting the
mashgiach Reb Yeruchom as describing the benefit of
these shiurim in the following way: "They get from the
shiurim in Chumash what a child in Poland
absorbs naturally by arguing with his friend over who will
hold the cover of the sefer Torah while it is being
raised in the beis haknesses." Is that an accurate
portrayal of what happened in the shiur?

HaRav Wolbe:Bochurim who came from France,
Germany, England and America to Mir, heard that our master,
the Mashgiach, delivered special talks to smaller groups of
talmidim, so they also asked for a vaad. The
Mashgiach spent much time deliberating over their request and
arrived at his conclusion. Who knew whether these
bochurim had learned Chumash? They certainly
hadn't learned in cheder. So he decided to deliver a
shiur in Chumash . . . the Chumash
lernen literally revived our souls! The shiurim
have been published, in six volumes (Daas Torah).

YN: Were these shiurim delivered differently
from the shmuessen in the yeshiva?

HaRav Wolbe: No! There were three vaadim a week
on Chumash and they had no connection to the
shmuessen. The shmuessen were one thing and
this was something else. (After a moment's silence HaRav
Wolbe continues.)

On Friday night the Mashgiach would deliver a shmuess
in the yeshiva before ma'ariv and then at ten o'clock
he'd give us a Chumash shiur.

YN: For an hour?

HaRav Wolbe: For however long it was.

YN: And that was in his house?

HaRav Wolbe: Yes.

YN: Is there any way that we, of Yated
Ne'eman's Shabbos supplement, can encourage the public to
learn mussar? There are many topics that can be
encouraged by way of the media. Shemiras haloshon is
one example of something that has come to the forefront of
people's awareness through chareidi publications, street
notices etc. Can the same be done for mussar study? Or
is mussar's place the beis hamedrash, by the
shtender and the aron hakodesh?

HaRav Wolbe doesn't reply. When he breaks his silence he
explains: Everything that a mashgiach says today must
be worked through for days and days. I can't easily tell what
is good and what isn't.

(He tells the following story.) One of the greatest
talmidim in the yeshiva resolved a difficult Rambam
with a wonderful solution. His answer spread throughout the
yeshiva. The Mashgiach Reb Yeruchom asked him to repeat his
chiddush to him and the bochur complied. The
mashgiach asked him, "How many hours did you toil over
this chiddush?"

"Five hours."

He asked, "Did you hear the inyan that we discussed
yesterday?" (In Mir, a shmuess was called "an
inyan.") Yes, he'd heard it. "How long do you think I
worked on it?"

The talmid replied, "Probably also about five
hours."

"No, more."

"Ten hours?"

"No, more."

"A whole day?"

"No, more." And so it went on until the Mashgiach disclosed
that he'd worked on his talk for half a year.

(Silence again. Suddenly the Mashgiach continues.) Do you
mean that people will start to learn mussar because of
your articles? Mussar is a matter of training! One
draws closer to mussar by learning in a yeshiva where
there are shmuessen, where mussar is studied
and where the talmidim receive mussar
training.

You ask if it's possible? I don't know (in a low voice).

He thinks again for a long moment, shrugs his shoulders and
repeats pleasantly, "I don't know."

The Mashgiach's "I don't know" is answer enough for us.

Nuggets of Insight Gleaned From HaRav Wolbe's Teachings
and His Seforim

Finely Tuned

I remember clearly the Chazon Ish saying to me that someone
who learns gemora doesn't need to make any effort for
his mind to grasp what he learns, because Hakodosh Boruch
Hu, who created the mind, attuned His creatures perfectly
to an understanding of Torah. Thus when he embarks on
gemora study he easily grasps things and realizes
their meaning.

The Yid Within

Each animal and bird keeps the constant company of its own
kind. But how do they recognize their own kind? They never
see themselves and do not know what they look like. Even when
birds are reared in isolation from birth and have never seen
another bird of their type in their lives, when released,
they always seek out their own kind.

Scientists have concluded that every living creature has an
image of itself that is imprinted within it, at its
formation. Through this image it is able to recognize other
creatures of its type.

This wonderful revelation reveals the existence of a
spiritual characteristic of living creatures that we can
extrapolate to humans.

If it is so with animals, how much more so is it true of a
Jew. Within every Jew there is an image of the essence of a
Yid, by virtue of which he knows how to do
teshuvoh and to Whom he needs to return and what to
return to. This is the meaning of the Torah's words, "For the
matter is very close to you; within your mouth and heart to
do it" (Devorim 30:14).

The Meaning of Kiddush Hashem

In his introduction to Igeres Hakodesh, the Ramban
writes the following wonderful idea.

"The conduct of all of Yisroel is based upon the unity of
Hashem the great, yisborach. They therefore emulate
Him in all that they do. Since all our deeds are a reflection
of the deeds of Hashem yisborach, whenever we do
something good and upright we sanctify Hashem's great Name .
. . and whenever we do not behave correctly and our deeds are
corrupt, we profane Heaven's Name, since we are not behaving
like Him."

The idea of Kiddush Hashem and Chilul Hashem
does not, therefore, mean acting in a way that brings other
people closer to serving Hashem or that drives them away from
it, as is commonly understood. A deed that has no comparison
to the traits of Hashem yisborach profanes Him and a
deed in which His traits can be discerned sanctifies Him . .
.

This is the essence of the Jewish nation. "Elokei
Yisroel" — meaning, the revelation of all His
traits, to the degree that He wants to reveal them —
within Klal Yisroel. Thereby, His Name rests upon
us.

With this, we can understand what Rabbenu Yonah writes in
Shaarei Teshuvoh (Shaar 3, siman 27)
about the prohibition against forgetting Hashem. "For the
zera kodesh attains every positive form of conduct,
the kind of conduct that adorns its doer, by remembering
Hashem yisborach . . .." Were it not for the fact that
we have merited "Elokei Yisroel" and the revelation of
all the traits within Klal Yisroel, we could not
attain "every positive form of conduct" simply by remembering
Hashem. We are not speaking here about following His ways or
the command to "be like Him" but simply about remembering
Him. This is truly only a property of zera kodesh, the
holy seed, the seed of Yisroel.

Love and Fear

There is Torah and there is the Mikdosh.

Torah is all love. The blessing about Torah in
davening begins, "You have loved us with a great
love."

Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, "I have sold the Torah. But I
am unable to part from it . . ." (Shemos Rabba parsha
33). Hakodosh Boruch Hu loves Torah. Our love for
Hashem is expressed through our occupation with Torah.

We are commanded, on the other hand to, "Fear My
Mikdosh" (Vayikra 26:2). Chazal say, "You do
not fear Shabbos, but the One who commanded you about
Shabbos; so too with the Mikdosh. It is not the
Mikdosh that you have to fear but the One who
commanded you about the Mikdosh" (Yevamos
6).

We speak about "love of Torah" and about "fear" or "respect
for the Mikdosh." We don't recognize such ideas as
"fear of Torah" or "love of the Mikdosh." This is a
point worth considering!

Torah is Divine wisdom. Whoever is occupied with Torah
derives pleasure from it and by studying it he becomes
acquainted with "the One Who spoke and brought the world into
being." How could we not love Torah? Hashem kept the Torah
for 974 generations prior to the world's Creation, and when
He wanted to create the world, He looked into the Torah and
did so (Bereishis Rabba, parsha 1). How could He,
yisborach, not love Torah? Torah's essence is love,
attaching Klal Yisroel to Hashem and Hashem to Klal
Yisroel.

The Beis Hamikdosh is the place where His Presence
resides among us. The Shechinah is always with us. It
even accompanies us in exile. But it resides openly only in
the Beis Hamikdosh. Every visitor to the Beis
Hamikdosh felt that his faith had become utter
certainty.

While the Beis Hamikdosh stood, Eretz Yisroel
was blessed with an abundance of good and the entire
world was blessed as a result. The Mikdosh thus
represents the Shechinah residing in a discernible way
and the revelation of faith in people's hearts. The
Shechinah's presence makes fear mandatory.

An Untainted World

When the astronauts returned from the moon they were held in
quarantine for twenty-one days, in case they were carrying
germs or viruses from the moon that could cause an epidemic
on earth.

If there were spiritual overseers on the moon who could speak
and force men to do their bidding they would have kept the
astronauts who arrived there in quarantine for a long time to
make sure that they hadn't brought the germ of "no fear of
Hashem" to the moon!

Imagine if the Chofetz Chaim were to have been the first
human on the moon, a place where no human being had ever
before set foot and sullied with the germ of "no fear of
Hashem." On that day the moon would have been at the same
level of holiness as it was at its Creation, as it left
Hashem's Hands at the Creation. There, the Chofetz Chaim
would have witnessed Hashem's rule without any screen of
obscurity, just as Odom Horishon witnessed it in Gan
Eden! Perhaps he would have merited attaining prophecy
there. There may be an abundance of it there like there was
in Gan Eden, where they were unable to hide from it ("And the
man hid . . ." — Bereishis 3:8). A holy man like
the Chofetz Chaim would have attained prophecy straight away,
who knows?

But others arrived there, and as soon as they arrived they
brought all the impurity of the germ of "no fear of Hashem"
there too. If the Chofetz Chaim were to have gone there after
them, he would have felt that the atmosphere was poisoned by
the "no fear of Hashem" germ, just as it is on the Earth!

This example can help us consider the implications of the
concealment of Hashem's rule in this world. In and of itself,
Hashem's rule is openly revealed without anything obscuring
it. It is men's hearts that are the source of the many
screens that presently separate us from the Creator. Is His
Presence in the world not discernible even today, in every
plant, in every tree, in every living creature and in the
sky? That kind of vision is obscured from us because of the
existence of Amolek! That is why the revelation of His
rule is contingent on the eradication of Amolek.

The Cruel World of the Yetzer Hora

The gemora (Shabbos 105) says, "A person who smashes
objects, rips his clothing or scatters his money in anger,
should be like an idol worshiper in your eyes. For such is
the craft of the yetzer hora. Today he tells a person
`Do this.' Tomorrow he tells him, `Do that.' Until he tells
him, `Go and worship idols,' and the person goes and worships
them. What posuk is this learned from? "There should
be no strange god within you and do not bow down to a foreign
god' (Tehillim 81:10). What strange god resides within
a person's body? I surmise that it is the yetzer
hora."

From here we learn the essential nature of the yetzer
hora's control that leads a person to bow down —
that is, to negate himself — to a strange god, through
which he becomes completely estranged from himself, from his
fellow men and from his Creator. The term avodoh zora,
foreign worship, does not only denote worship of something
other than Hashem yisborach. It denotes worship whose
essence is foreignness or estrangement. "A person who rips
his clothing in anger," is estranged from himself to the
point where he damages himself. He thus becomes a stranger to
his fellow man and does not consider him at all. He also
becomes estranged from Hashem yisborach and does not
discern His Providence in the events around him assigning
them instead to chance, as the Rambam writes at the beginning
of Hilchos Taanis.

A person who lives under the yetzer hora's control
lives in a cruel world that is built out of the negative
traits of pride, anger and love of pleasures. Chazal likened
submission to the yetzer of anger not only to idol
worship. In Niddah (13) we find the same comparison
made to a different unbecoming trait. There is but one
foundation to the yetzer hora's world —
estrangement. It is a world of cruelty.

Someone who lives in a cruel world of that kind discerns
nothing whatsoever of Hashem's rule. For him, the entire
world is one great entity of concealment. This concealment is
not rooted in anything that actually exists in the world. Its
source is the estrangement within our own hearts, in the
"strange god that resides within a person's body" and
controls him.

Therefore, if someone finds himself surrounded on every side
by concealment and wherever he looks sees only divisions
between himself and his Creator, he need only search within
his own soul for the bad traits that nestle there, whether
they be pride or desire, frivolity or depression. For if he
lives under the control of a strange god, that is the very
thing hiding and concealing every realization and every truth
from him.